Communication Ethics

Citing from the article by the Financial Executives International (2011), it is factual that most of the organizations in the contemporary business sector do not adhere to the provisions of business ethics and integrity. This can be drawn from several examples such as the decline of BP’s contract with the government of United States by President Obama back in 2012 (Financial Executives International, 2011). This decline was based on the contention that the company lacked business integrity particularly with reference to the case of oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The other example is the case of Goldman Sachs where the company was sued in the Southern District of New York federal court following the allegations of dishonesty and misrepresentation to its investors (Financial Executives International, 2011). Therefore, it is factual that in the contemporary business sector, most of the companies continue to make headlines regarding their corporate misconduct and violation of business ethics provisions.

Adhering to the issue of ethics and integrity, Jameson (2011) in his article cites from the lawsuit that was filed by Starwood Hotels on Hilton Hotels on allegations of industrial espionage. It was informed that Hilton Hotels engaged in an illegal disclosure of Starwood’s confidential information in their agreement as a competitive intelligence strategy. This violates the business codes of ethics especially under the contentions on the existence of the contractual agreement between the two competitors (Jameson, 2011). However, citing from the contents of the contractual documents of Starwood, it is true that Starwood Hotels lack of integrity as it did not comply with the corporate code of ethics demanding the company to disclosure full contingent offered to all potential employees in the organization.

In conclusion, the other example of the issue of lack of integrity and its consequences include Enron’s case that happened back in 2001. Lack of integrity in financial recording during financial reports forced Enron Company into a corporate bankruptcy that was the largest to ever been recorded in the U.S history. Thus, it is worthwhile for the companies to recognize the consequences of violating business codes of ethics and lack of integrity.

References

Financial Executives International, (2013). How effective are ethics codes and programs? Many companies craft codes of ethics and establish the related ethics and compliance programs to enforce the codes. Financial Executive, 29 (2): 42. ISSN: 0895-4186

 

Jameson, D.A., (2011). The rhetoric of industrial espionage: the case of Starwood v. Hilton. Business Communication Quarterly, Volume 74